Kelli Russell Agodon's Blog, page 75

Confession Tuesday

Dear Reader,



It's been one week since my last confession and while many weeks I come here and the confessions just roll out, this week's confession seems a little stuck, the paste of my mind-- what can I tell you that you don't already know?  What can I confess to that a little devious? A little wild?  Just a little interesting?



Dear Reader, that may be another week, I really am not sure what I have to confess, but there's always something, right?



To the confessional--



I confess sometimes I have no idea what to write on Confession Tuesday and today is one of those days.



It's not that I am perfect, I am nowhere close.  In fact, if perfect were a place, it would be the center of Antarctica, not only ridiculously far away from me, but a place I will probably ever step foot on or even sail by.



Perfect is mirage of water on the hot roadway, even when you think you're there, you're never close.  And in fact, I'd say that thinking that one is perfect, might mean you're further away than you think -- thus, a perfect person wouldn't think they were perfect...



Of course, by not thinking I'm perfect does not make me perfect.  It makes me realistic.  And honest.



~



Though I confess, there is a part of me that yearns for perfect. I think this due to my small obsession with "show towels."



You have probably never heard this term, but maybe you too have them.  These are the towels that are put out when guests come over or when we have a dinner party.  They are the only towels in the entire house that look nice enough to wipe your hands on.



They actually look nice in the bathroom without some bizarre 70's floral pattern going on or my country red towels, carried with me from my first home, how I love them for their stringiness and their ability not to care what others think about them.  No, these show towels are soft and yellow and they all match.  If my bathroom was a museum, these would be the paintings you would first go to and love them for their luster.



I have (in a very non-perfect way) shouted at my family when I've seen these towels dragged across the floor to clean up an in-house exploding water balloon, I have seen them on the dog, being taken to the garage, "Hey!  Those are our Show Towels!  Use an ugly one."



I confess, sometimes I think "when I am Oprah-rich, all my towels will be show towels."



Oh, imagine.  Such big dreams little poet...

~



I confess now that I think about it, I'm not sure how all our towels (with the exception of the do-not-touch show towels) became so ruined.  I have a feeling we each use them on our bikes and pretend we don't.



~



I confess I use our towels when cleaning my mountain bike.



~



I confess I did not plan an entire post on towels.



~

Remember two weeks ago when I confessed about never having the urge to flip the bird in photos?  If there is an occasion for someone to do it right, this is how to do it: Jim Belushi photobombing Chevy Chase... (Note: you must be famous and it must in the 1970's for this to work this well)--





And did I mention, Chevy Chase always have the best expressions...

~



Amen.Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Happy 4th of July from Ava Gardner -

Hope you have a safe and happy 4th of July!  And make sure you're pets are indoors when the fireworks begin!Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Friday's Thought - Begin Now...

Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Thankful Thursday - Jeannine Hall Gailey & Her New Book, She Returns to the Floating World...

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Some more good news happens-- Jeannine Hall Gailey's new book,  She Returns to the Floating World  releases tomorrow, July 1st!  But here's the good news, Amazon already has it in stock and it's only $10.20. 



Or you can pay $12 and give your money directly to her indie press, Kitsune Books



Either way, you win.  Plus, the book is 126 pages long.  Oh, how I love them big poetry books (I like big books and I cannot lie...)



Here's a description of Jeannine's book:



She Returns to the Floating World is a book about transformation that examines two recurring motifs in Japanese folk tales and popular culture: "the woman who disappears" and the "older sister/savior." Many of the poems are persona poems spoken by characters from animé and manga, mythology, and fairy tales, like the story of the kitsune, or fox-woman, whose relationships are followed throughout the book. Gailey's abiding interest in female heroes and tales of transformation, love, and loss bristles to life with a cast of characters including wives who become foxes, sisters who become birds, and robots with souls.



~



Anyhoo, you may have gathered from the tiara photo below (Jeannine calls this our "Poets Gone Wild" photo as there was champagne at this gathering) that Jeannine is one of my best poetry friends.  She is.  And she is not only is a kind, generous, and just all around supportive/loving friend, she's a fantastic writer with an incredible mind who also wears pink Ugg boots with skirts in the summer time.



I have been so excited for this poetry book to be in my hands as it has several of my favorite poems in it, "After Ten Years Together, We Sneak Off to Make Out in Someone's Closet," "The Taste of Rust in August," "Waiting in the OB/Gyn's Office for the Results of a Biopsy," "In Phoenix, Heat Makes Us Chase Egrets," and this one, "Advice Given to Me Before My Wedding" (published in Rattle).



What I love about Jeannine's work is how it mixes pop-culture with myth, legend with real life, and it does so effortlessly.



Here's a wonderful review Kristin Berkey-Abbott did of Jeannine's book if you want to read more about it.



I am so excited for Jeannine and all the things ahead of her.  She is an amazing poet, person, and I am so happy for her success with this collection.  And I'm even more thankful she's my good friend.



Cheers to Jeannine!



~



Kelli & Jeannine






By the way, Jeannine has a new Facebook page and you can Like it hereKelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Time for a DIY Writing Retreat...

It's 5 a.m.



I'm getting up, showering, putting on my most comfy pair of yoga pants, a long-sleeve t-shirt, big cozy sweater, flipflops and packing my favorite wool socks. Why?  Because it's one of my favorite days, a Do-It-Yourself Writing Retreat day at my friend Annette's house.



I'm meeting with Annette and Ronda at 9 am today and we will write together until 5, each of us with our laptops and a table full of snacks.



We have certain exercises we return to--our favorite being someone reading off a list of random words every 30-90 seconds while we write and the others having to use those words in whatever they are writing about.





Here's a link to the full post I wrote on our DIY Writer's Retreat from last year.



Here's us at the beach after a long morning of writing.



And a few more photos from the day.





The best part is that I know tonight when I return, I'll have the starts to at least 10 or more poems.  These shorts will not all go on to become poems, but many will.  And honestly, there is no way to every waste a day writing or in being with good friends.



Now, off to grab my books and writing exercises, then off to write...Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Attn: Writers-- Come to Oregon! Fishtrap Summer Gathering & Writing Workshops

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Coming July 10-17th! Fishtrap's 24th Summer Writing Workshops and

Gathering at Wallowa Lake, nestled at the foot of the Wallowa

Mountains in Eastern Oregon. Writers are invited to join us for a week

of creative writing workshops and a weekend of presentations and

conversation on questions of migration and transformation, both

political and personal.



There are a few spaces left in writing workshops by Wayne Harrison on

the subtler uses of dialog to reveal character, Debra Earling on

creating stories of legend, myth and magic, Henry Hughes on writing

poems that move, Rosanne Parry on writing young adult fiction, and

Joanne Mulcahy on writing about the landscapes and lives of others.



The Gathering begins on Thursday night July 14th and features Pico

Iyer, famous for his writings on travel, globalism, migration and

crossing cultures. Iyer will be joined by artist and healer Eva

Castellanoz, journalist David Laskin, and social activist Pramila

Jayapal.



Participants may enroll in the five-day writing workshops, just the

Gathering, or both . For more information and to register go to

http://fishtrap.org/

Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Confession Tuesday

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Dear Reader,



It's been one week and one book prize since I've last confessed.  If you missed my post on Saturday, my good news is that I just learned this weekend that I won the  Foreword Mag's Book of the Year prize for Poetry.  I tried to do a longer post on this, but wasn't sure what to say, so maybe this is the place to be as I can write in shorter snippets without boring you too much.



To the confessional--



I confess I had just returned from 3 days in the rainforest & was snuggled up in bed with my daughter watching old Psych episodes when I received the news from my publisher (It came by text - Check yr. email. You won the Foreword Prize. Dennis).



When I went to the link, I wasn't sure I was reading it correctly. I kept thinking, My name is in the #2 spot, but it says Gold.  My name is in the 2 spot, but it says Gold.  I repeated this to myself like some sitcom mantra until I realized they have chosen two winners for book of the year.  My book and Rebecca Foust's book, God, Seed had both won the top prize, and they have alphabetized us by title.



~



I confess while I had tried to visual winning this book award, I did not think I could win.   Every time I tried to imagine winning and what it would feel like, I would end that daydream with, "Um, probably won't happen, Kelli," which is really a lousy way to end a daydream.  Daydreamers are really quite skilled in their ability.



~



I confess in my excitement to call people about the news, none of my poet friends nor my family were home.  My husband was at the fire department on a medic call, my 76 year old mother was at the gym, and the list went on like that...

This is exactly why Facebook is a great idea, someone is always home on Facebook.  Just like birthdays, if you need to throw yourself a party online, there's your tribe, right there and ready to party.  Facebook was one of the first places I shared my news because I tend to process my life outwardly not inwardly.  Meaning-- I have to talk about things or they are not real.~

I confess that as much as being chosen has made me feel incredibly happy, I still realize that both criticism and praise come from the outside and as artists and writers, we have to find peace and satisfaction from within.



This isn't easy and it's something I'm still working on.  I can feel as if I'm on Cloud 9, 10, & even 11 after something like this happens, or kind of crankypants if the outcome isn't what I had hoped for.



I know that had the judges been different or had they read my book right after a fight with their spouse or on a bad day, it could have easily been someone else's name up there.  There were 1400 entries, then 37 finalists.  There are thousands of outcomes with these types of numbers.



Luck & timing-- that is what much of this poetry world is made of.



~

I confess my life is returning to normal.  We are running out of toilet paper and I found moldy bread in the bread box.



I know in life's big picture, this is wonderful, but the prize doesn't come with four chambers and a rhythmic song. The most important things in my life have heartbeats.  Family, friends & pets-- these (not prizes) are in the end are what make a happy life.



Though right now, I still feel the good energy from learning this news.  And there is a part of me, the girl who always wanted to win a trophy, who is dancing.  And she will probably continue the rest of the week, I won't lie, it's a freakish good weekend in that respect. And I'm still excited and honored and thankful to have been chosen and while it's not officially "a trophy" - it feels like one.  So maybe that little girl who always wanted to great at something, can sleep well this week.



My poetry group threw me a party last night that included tiaras, caprese, chocolates, champagne and lemon torte. I couldn't count the number of toasts made.  If I haven't mentioned it a thousand times before, I'm ridiculously thankful for these incredible women.  My friend Jen said it felt like all of them had won too, and I believe that-- that success occurs in clusters (which is from the Artist's Way has always been my creative bible on helping me weave my way through this writerly life.)



So this is where I'll end it--I'm thankful in many ways including all of you who have connected with me to offer your good words, congrats and support-- thank you for sharing in my news.  It's been a lovely three days of emails and notes. Your heartbeats make mine flutter a bit-- so many many thanks to you for being part of my tribe.



Amen.Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Marketing for Poets & Writers Who Prefer Writing or How Not To End Up in a Leisure Suit with an Author Nametag

Since I wrote about the new Facebook Author Page last week, I thought I'd talk about the internal battle I have with the word "marketing" and how I've come to reconcile it.



First, I'll be honest here-- I would prefer to just write and have nothing to do with promotion...well, except for the postcards.  I love postcards.



In my best world, I live in a small house on the water where I write.  My book sales have paid for my mortgage and royalty checks afford me a housekeeper named Antonio Banderas and enough money so to buy prosciutto and not "prosciutto ends" which are half the price, but also the grab bag of the meat department.



In my best world, I live simply, but also always wear matching lingerie and refer to myself as Coco.  Okay, that's not part of the dream (well, the Coco part isn't).



But so far, this has not happened.  I have learned that as a poet, part of my job is helping to get my book out and into the hands of readers because it's not just about me, it's also about this incredible publisher (White Pine Press) who supported me and my work.  The Capricorn part of me doesn't want to let them down.



So here's a few ideas for how to market and promote your book without feeling as if you constantly have to wear your "Author" nametag (which you don't, because that's weird and creepy).





1)  Choose an anti-role model--



This was a huge breakthrough for me.  While there really wasn't a poet or writer who I thought "did it exactly right" or how I'd like to do it, I sure knew what I didn't like--



I didn't want to be like the poet approached me with his chapbook peeking out of his shirt pocket.



I didn't want to be like the guy who wore a nametag that said Author next to an image of his book cover, who when I asked, "Oh, did you just come from a reading?" said, "No." (See, weird and creepy.)



I didn't want to be like the writer who decided she was going to create "a huge fan base" before she actually wrote or completed something.



I didn't want an author photo of me holding a wine spritzer wearing a fancy pin.



I didn't want anything that bordered on my idea of *cccchhhheeeeessssyyyyy* (definition of cheesy: Cheap, unpleasant, or blatantly inauthentic.)



Once I chose an anti-role model, every time I started to do something that felt as if I wasn't following my own values, inner style and it felt more like something that would be done by him/her, I knew not to do it.





2.  Change your vocabulary.  Instead of marketing think share.  Instead of promotion think celebrate.



This was also helpful to me as a huge fear of mine is to be seen as a "shameless self-promoter" (see #1).  I battle with this fear a lot. I don't want to let down my publisher, but I also do not want to feel as if I'm wearing a leisure suit and calling myself Larry.



But if I change the way I think about this part of the job in my head and get rid of the words I have put a negative association with such as marketing & promotion, I can actually do this.



For example, if someone said to me, "You must market your book to your friends and family," I'd say Screw you.  Okay, I wouldn't actually say "screw," but I'd say no.  However, if someone said, "Could you let your friends & family know that your book is out?"  I'd say, Sure.  Letting someone know my book is out to me falls under "sharing" and talking and conversations are things I do pretty well.



Would I create a promotional event highlighting myself and my book?  Never.



But would I have a party at my home for all my best friends where we dressed up like different versions of Emily Dickinson (there were 3 Biker Dickinsons & one Grunge Dickinson), drank wine and ate good food, so I could thank them for their support of me as a poet as I wrote this book?  Check. Check. Check.





Many Emilys




 3.  Do what you love to do, but in regards to the promotion your book.

I like to send postcards and to laminate things.  I like Emily Dickinson, bookmarks, and old keys.  I used all of these to let people know about my book.



My book with the Emily Dickinson bookmark I made.


4.  Remind Yourself It's Okay to Make Mistakes in Your Attempt to Find the Right Balance for Yourself

As Dr. Seuss says in Oh, The Places You'll Go: I'm sorry to say so but, sadly, it's true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you. You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch...

If you do something that makes you feel as if you've put on the leisure suit, learn from it and don't do it again.  

Or if you feel you were so excited about book that you completely "overshared" (aka Became a Shameless Self-Promoter), then lay low for awhile, take off your author name tag and go to the beach.  It's okay.  People forget and forgive.  

To many of us who have just be writers, this public world can feel strange and uncomfortable.  

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And since many of us are introverts, it can feel as if we're having to do a dance no one ever taught us.  And that's okay too.





You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.And will you succeed?

Yes! You will, indeed!

(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)Kid, you'll move mountains!

So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ale Van Allen O'Shea, you're off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting.

So…get on your way!



~Just remember to have fun...Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Happy Dance! Foreword Book of the Year Prize for Poetry!

I just learned my book Letters From the Emily Dickinson Room  just won Foreword Magazine's Book of the Year Prize in Poetry (and the Gold prize with Rebecca Foust's book, God, Seed).



I'll post more about it next week, but wanted to share it here with you.  Thank you for all being so supportive about this book.  Truly, when it came out, I was so worried how it would be received. I am truly honored to have been chosen for this.



xo

~KellsKelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Friday's Thought - Are You *Really* an Artist or Writer?

Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com